The effect of polymer modification on microwave digestion efficiency, thermal stability and plasma etching resistance for the photoresist

The UV/VIS spectrometric and gravimetric methods were successfully implemen ted to evaluate the open-focused microwave digestion efficiency for a photo resist sample after modification with poly(4-hydroxystyrene) polymer. The p olymer modification can slightly degrade the digestion efficiency for the p hotoresist. By following the established microwave digestion method and ind uctively coupled plasma mass spectrometry determination, the detection limi ts obtained for multi-elements were in the ng ml(-1) and sub-ng ml(-1) leve ls. Except for calcium, the spike recoveries of the metals were in the rang e 88-128% for the modified sample. The analytical results were found to be in reasonably good agreement with the literature values. The mass losses of the modified photoresists appeared at three major decomposition temperatur es (138-142, 344-357 and 471-509 degrees C), irrespective of the amounts of modification. The modification can enhance the thermal stability, viscosit y and plasma etching resistance for the photoresist. Our results demonstrat ed that the polymer structure of the photoresist is still similar regardles s of the modification.